The maps, tables, and charts accessible by this page's links describe the structure and geographic distribution of Eastern North Carolina's major population groups. In most cases, the measures describing various aspects of the region's population can be compared to both North Carolina and the United States for the same time period.

It should be noted here that there is a difference in the way racial group membership is assigned for the most recent census. For the census year 2000, there is a distinction among the number of racial groups to which an individual can belong. For North Carolina counties, approximately 97% to nearly 100% of these populations have reported belonging to the "one race" category. This should have very little impact on general comparisons that can be made among population groups for this time period. However, the new racial classification scheme should be kept in mind when comparing populations across different census years.

The Center for Health Services Research and Development provides internships for interested geography majors attending East Carolina University. Kathleen Childress, under the direction of James Wilson, created most of the maps found in this page's links during an internship for the summer of 2002.